Onshore refugee processing expanded

The federal government will expand its network of immigration detention facilities
and move more than 700 children, as well as families, into the community.
In a significant shift in asylum seeker policy, Prime Minister Julia Gillard on
Monday announced children and family groups would be moved into community-based
arrangements by June 2011.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and human rights groups,
as well as the Australian Greens, welcomed the announcement.
But there will also be a major expansion of facilities on the mainland with the
commissioning of two new detention centres, at Northam in Western Australia and
Inverbrackie in South Australia, to cater for up to 1900 asylum seekers.
The development comes despite Ms Gillard again insisting the government would
continue to press for a regional refugee processing centre to be built in East
Timor.
The government is continuing to face pressure over overcrowding in Australia's
detention network and the unabated arrival of asylum seeker boats.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen rejected a suggestion the decision to offer
community-based housing to some detainees would encourage adults to take their
children on asylum seeker boats.
"We already have the toughest mandatory detention system in the developed world," he
said.
Ms Gillard said the release of children and families into the community would
balance a policy of mandatory detention with the humane treatment of those fleeing
persecution.
"This is especially important for children, for whom protracted detention can have
negative impacts on their development and mental health," she said.
Figures from the Department of Immigration show there are 5056 people in immigration
detention in Australia, including 742 children, while 106 asylum seeker boats have
arrived in 2010 alone.
The Northam site, 80km northeast of Perth, will accommodate up to 1500 single adult
males while the Inverbrackie facility, 37km north of Adelaide, will house up to 400
people, consisting of family groups.
As previously outlined, the Darwin Airport Lodge will also be expanded to
accommodate 400 people.
Another site, near Darwin, will also be prepared to take overflow while the
Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation centre will be expanded.
The use of other sites will be abandoned or reduced, including Christmas Island
where tents erected last year as temporary accommodation will be removed.
Several hundred children and families will be moved into community-based
accommodation by June 2011, although all unauthorised arrivals will continue to be
mandatorily detained when they first arrive while identity and security checks are
carried out.
The government would partner with non-government organisations and community groups
to house the asylum seekers and would cover the cost, which is yet to be revealed.
The UNHCR's regional spokesman, Richard Towle, said the move to place children and
vulnerable families in the community was welcome, but he criticised the decision to
expand the detention network.
"While we welcome positive moves to take children and some family groups out of
detention, we hope that Australia will also consider exploring alternatives to
detention for other asylum-seekers who pose no identified health or security risks
to the community," he said.
The Australian Greens, which have been pushing for children to be removed from
detention, also welcomed the announcement.
"Finally, we're seeing the government acknowledge the current practice of detaining
children and families in immigration detention is not right and it needs to change,"
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
However, the coalition seized on the development, with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott
saying it showed Labor's border protection policies had "comprehensively failed".
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison accused Ms Gillard of breaking an
election promise.
"This is a government that said it wouldn't be expanding its onshore detention
network before the election and since the election they've announced 3300 beds," he
said.
Mr Morrison said children and vulnerable families should instead be sent to Nauru.
"They should be in appropriate facilities for children and families which could have
been and would have been implemented in Nauru under the coalition's policies."
Despite the expansion of detention facilities on the mainland, Ms Gillard on Monday
insisted a regional processing hub in East Timor remained her priority for solving
the asylum seeker problem.
"We will pursue that dialogue," she told parliament.



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